DCI, MCI to review BDS Curriculum
DCI, MCI to review BDS Curriculum – The Dental Council of India (DCI) along with the Medical Council of India (MCI) have announced their decision to review the proposed bridge course from Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) to Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Course. Along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), both the council will review BDS’s curriculum in this regard.
The panels are carrying out this review so that they can determine and analyse this proposal’s feasibility. It will also determine if there exists a possibility that the leverage dentists have the capability of filling the shortage of doctors that the country is facing.
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Three years back in 2016, the Medical Diagnosis Team had released a report which stated that DCI has put forward a proposal before the Govt of India that it should consider allowing a bridge Course from BDS to MBBS. If the government agrees to their proposal, then two major problems faced by the country would be solved. Firstly, there is a severe shortage of MBBS Doctors especially those in rural areas. Secondly, a lot of Dental students are facing placement issues after they complete their course. They struggle a lot in order to get recruited.
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Ever since the proposal became public, both MCI and DCI have been in the process of examining if it is possible to design a bridge course which could enable the BDS students to pursue the MBBS course in India.
In 2018, the MCI had constituted a special committee under Dr Ved Prakash Mishra regarding this purpose. This committee looked into special technical issues such as how the coursework is going to be and if the Dental students would need to undergo the internship period as the MBBS students do as per their curriculum. The committee is also looking into matters such as those students who would clear this bridge course would be registered with MCI or DCI or both the councils. It will also decide which council would be entrusted with the operation of running this course. Once the MCI was taken over by the Board of Governors, the matter got passed to a new body.
This proposal was able to see the light of the day when on April 9, 2019, a meeting was held in the Prime Minister’s office regarding this matter where they discussed about scaling up the medical education in the country. They also discussed the option of allowing the dentists to practise mainstream medicine or family medicine once they clear this bridge course. The proposal was later on sent to MCI.
After the meeting, the board of governors at MCI approved the ATR regarding this matter and released a press note which states that MCI would cooperate with DCI and MOHFW to review the BDS curriculum and examine the proposal’s feasibility.